My Kids Love Moles… I Mean Poison Shrews

Ugh, I found a mole while forking through my compost tonight. At least I THINK it’s a mole. It had more like mouse hands, but kind of a moley looking head. I don’t know. Two years ago I found a couple of them hiding at the bottom of my compost, but I hadn’t seen them again until now.

I used up the whole pile to mulch my front yard garden beds and put him as gently as I could on top of one of the beds. I don’t think he’s gonna make it because he was barely moving by the time we went inside for the night. No more vacancy at the Mole hotel. I wish they weren’t so cute and squeaky. My 4 year old daughter became obsessed with him and kept running back to the garden to see if he was ok…

UPDATE April 26: Thanks to the lovely commenting visitor below, I took a look at some pictures of shrews online and this looks a LOT like one of those. Actually, I’d say it’s a Northern Short-tailed Shrew. The habit seems very similar, as it was found in the bottom of my long, undisturbed compost pile. I’m a little freaked out because I read that the saliva is venomous and it’s bite can KILL mice within 3 to 5 minutes of being bitten and for a human, bites will swell and be painful for days. Good thing I wouldn’t let Abbie touch it. The good news? They eat SNAILS, and other garden pests. They also eat earthworms sooo maybe NOT so good in the garden after all. *sigh* I guess I’ll be welcoming the neighborhood cats into the gardens and make sure the kids know not to touch the poison shrew.